Tifa's average day
by LovelyPrecedent
Summary: Just a snippet of a normal day in the shoes of Tifa and what she goes through to make her family safe and happy. The amount of work mothers do is severely under-appreciated. Some fluff and suggested sexy time. Cloti.


This particular one shot is inspired by an outlandish suggestion that Tifa is a lousy mother. Wait what, are we endorsing the same franchise? :P

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"Marlene make sure you bring your excursion forms with you right now and tell Mrs. Highwind that I am very sorry for not being able to make it for the parents' lunch meeting this Thursday."

"Yes Tifa. You _are_ coming to my primary school graduation night right?" Marlene asked while preparing her backpack.

"Of course sweetie. I would never miss your graduation. First I just need to make arrangements with some clients to close the bar and tell Cloud to withhold his delivery offers on that date as well, in addition to postponing my meeting with Yuffie..."

Denzel entered the kitchen for breakfast and rummaged through the cupboard.

"Morning Denz."

"Morning Tifa...the bread is almost done and the milk is gone. Cloud took it with him just now."

Tifa sighed in irritation. Didn't she just replace the bread? How could Cloud just take up an entire carton of milk in the morning? How much do guys need to eat these days.

"I'll put that on my grocery list. Is it true you broke your laptop?"

Denzel looked sheepish. "Umm yeah I accidentally dropped it down the stairs two nights ago when I was in a hurry."

"Oh Denzel that repair is going to cost so much money and Cloud will have to travel far to get it fixed. Do you need access to technology in the next few days?"

Denzel gawked "Yeah, all our homework is done on computers these days."

"Well I will have to pay the library for you to rent -" the shrill business phone began ringing "Hello Seventh Heaven and Strife Delivery Service how can we help you?"

Tifa pressed the receiver to her chest "- a computer right now because the laptops are limited there... yes we are open till 8pm today...no we cannot do a private function next Friday...it's my daughter's graduation night...I'm sorry Ma'am it cannot and will not be done. Johnny's Heaven is open for business though."

Tifa put the phone down a bit harshly.

"Shouldn't you two start walking out now? Denzel I've had to call your principal three times this semester to bail you out of detention for being late."

After she kissed her foster children goodbye she made herself a coffee. It was 8am.

"Now it's time for my _real_ work day to begin" she muttered to herself. "Twelve hour shift as a bartender, self made chef, restaurant waitress, hostess, security guard, accounts manager, manager, receptionist, and go-to personal counselor...let's get on it!"

Thirteen hours later Tifa had closed the bar, confirmed reservations and requests for tomorrow, completed stock take, wiped down the tables, dishwashed and polished the glasses, cooked dinner for Marlene and Denzel, prepared some dinner for Cloud while also preparing the lunches for the kids tomorrow morning. Scratch that she also decided to prepare lunch for Cloud tomorrow and noted to include a _can_ of milk as well. Why he suddenly became interested in plain milk as a beverage was beyond her.

She even used ten spare minutes to phone up some angry clients of Strife Delivery who didn't receive their products on time. Tifa calmly explained that Cloud travels through vast lands and even encounters monsters in order to get their products manually delivered,

"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am, I will tell him to tell the monsters that his delivery task is very important and cannot be delayed thank you, hope we can help you" click.

Cloud rang the doorbell. How cute of him to wait for her to open the door. Tifa had paid a handyman to install a disguised looking doorbell just so Cloud wouldn't have to fiddle around for his house keys after a long traveling day.

"Good evening Tifa" Cloud smiled softly. " I'm so glad there is dinner on the table, I'm starving."

He made his way to his seat.

"Would you like to join me?" he asked kindly.

"I would love to Cloud but I need to bring in the laundry and replace the bin liners, then set the tables and write up the menu for tomorrow. I'll grab a bite to eat before coming to bed."

Cloud nodded and continued eating.

Another hour later Tifa ate, showered, and collapsed into their bed. Her face had been set into a determined frown and her shoulders were tense.

"Tifa -"

"Cloud, today one of your clients called he was so angry that his wife's medicine was delayed for two days and I felt so bad."

"Tifa, don't worry. Your day is over."

"I do worry! Her health and well-being could have been endangered because of the delay but I _told_ them there were mutant monsters around their vicinity that regularly threaten you and now they insist on getting a refund -"

"Tifa." Cloud's voice was stern now. "Put that darn chore diary for tomorrow down and come move closer to me."

Cloud had just used his authoritative voice that Tifa had only heard when he was designated leader of AVALANCHE. She complied and waited expectantly for his request.

"Yes Cloud. What do you need?"

"Only one thing. Stop. Doing. Relax. Sometimes you seem like a mad hen running around trying to please everyone _and_ help save the world too."

Tifa laughed for the first time all day. She understood when Cloud's sarcastic manner actually belied his caring intentions.

"Cloud, I try to keep our family together everyday. Running around like a madwoman is necessary to keep it functioning, to keep our business thriving and the income too - we need revenue to be able to stay in this home and keep food on the table because my big nightmare is that we will starve and Denzel will have to start searching for rats as dinner again, I need to try harder mmmph!"

Without warning Cloud had leaned forward to press his lips against hers. Hopefully not only to silence her anxious rambling once and for all. He decided to go further and deepened the kiss and gripped her body tightly against him. After a long time he pulled away from her. She gasped for air but looked enthralled. This was the state of Tifa he wanted to see more of.

"Stop trying." he ordered. " You cannot please everyone, so give up."

She nodded at him, eyes still bright from their kiss.

"But if you want to please me" he leaned forward "you can stop being so hard on yourself, take it easy and let me take care of you too" he added softly.

"Cloud I..." Tifa was getting flustered and the room suddenly seemed a bit too hot. " I want...would it be okay if we, right now?" she bumbled.

He didn't need a further prompt. He moved himself so he was on top of her and was delighted to see her flushed and happy face gazing up at him.

"_If this is what it takes to make her so cheerful then I have permission to be doing this a lot more_" Cloud thought.

As they became more and more consumed by their lovemaking Tifa's chore diary fell through the gap between the wall and bed. It was lost and forgotten about for weeks after that.


End file.
